Closet-locking device.



1. c DUNER. CLOSET LOCKING DEVICE.

APPLICATION FILED MAR. 10. 1915- Patented. Jail. 8,1918.

2 SHEETS-SHEET1- Hullll Him J. C. DUNEH.

CLOSET LOCKING DEVICE.

APPLICATION FILED MAR. 10. 1915.

Patented Jan. 8, 1918.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

JOHN C. DUNER, OF WI-IEATON, ILLINOIS.

CLOSET-LOCKING DEVICE.

Specification of Letters Yatent.

Application filed March 10, 1915.

To all whom 2'25 may concern:

Be it known that 1, JOHN C. DUNER, a citizen of the United States, residing at VVheaton, in the county of Dupage and State of Illinois, have invented a certain new and useful Closet-Locking Device, of which the following is a clear and exact specification, reference being bad to the accompanying drawings, forming a part hereof.

Theprincipal objects of the invention are, first, to provide an improved car closet bowl wherein the normal operating or discharging function of the same may be rendered temporarily inoperative or inefiective when the car is in a proscribed area, and in a manner to permit access of the traveling public thereto at such times as when the normal functioning of the bowl is prohibited; second, to provide a novel device capable of readily rendering said closed bowl operative or inoperative at will; and third, to produce a simple and ei'iicient device of this character capable of being actuated and controlled by a car attendant, and wherein the possibility of the device being tampered with by the public may be obviated.

These, together with such other objects as may hereinafter appear, or are incident to my invention, I attain by means of the construction illustrated in preferred form in the accompanying drawings, wherein:

Figures '1 and 2 represent side and rear elevations, respectively, of a closet bowl illustrating the application thereto ofone embodiment of my device, the housing in Fig. 2 being open to better disclose the parts contained therein;

Figs. 3 and 1 are, respectively, horizontal and vertical sectional views of said housing and its parts;

Fig. 5 is a detailed view in perspective of the lug member carried by the bowl operating means.

For sanitary purposes, it is customary in the operation of trains to temporarily prohibit public use of car closets during such times as the train is within certain defined areas, such as terminal yards, stopping places and the like. The chief aim of my invention is to obviate the inconvenience arising from this prohibition, by providing a means for effectually preventing discharge of the closet bowls when in such proscribed areas and yet without restricting public Patented Jan. 8, 1918.

Serial No. 13,354.

use of the same. F or purpose of illustration I have shown my invention applied to the Duner ear closet, such as is shown in the Duner Patent #832,897, though itwill be understood, of course, that my present invention is applicable to other makes of closets, possibly in some cases requiring modification well within the purview of my bowl, and which preferably comprises the dumping pan 10 carried by the shaft 11 for oscillation in said leg 9, the shaft being provided at its ends exteriorly of said bowl with the counterweight 12 and crank 13, and a lever handle 14 operatively connected with said crank by the link 15 whereby to actuate the shaft and oscillate the dumping pan, which latter is normally held in closed position, as shown in dotted lines in Fig. 1, by the said counterweight. The above parts which are substantially similar to and operate in substantially the same manner as the corresponding parts in the above mentioned patent, form 7961 so no essential part of my present invention. It will sufiice to say, however, that upward movement of the lever handle 14 on its pivot lat gand which carries with it the link 15 and crank 13, operates to discharge the pan 10, and such discharge may, if desired, be facilitated by flushing the bowl, as is provided for in the aforementioned patent.

As already indicated, my invention more particularly resides in the device which serves to render inoperative or ineffective the said bowl operating means and thereby prevent, at will, any discharging of the said bowl in prohibited areas. In carrying out my invention, the link 15 preferably has cast integral with it a rearwardly extendi ig bracket member 16 whose outer face 16 is desirably provided with an abutment 17 and a pivot pin 18, upon which latter is loosely carried a lug 19, designed to incline upwardly from the pin so as to normally rest against the abutment 17, and adjacent thereto is a stop 20 arranged to insure the return of the lug to its normal position against the sald abutment. The purpose in providing this swinging lug is more fully hereinafter described.

Preferably attached to the rear face of the bowl, as by the lugs'21 and fastening elements 22, is a housing 23 provided with a reciprocating rod 2% therein which eX- tends or projects therefrom toward and in a' plane slightly above that of the top line of the lug 19, and which is suitably carried in the side wall portions of the housing for movement from its normal inoperative positioning, as shown in Fig. 2, to an operative position where its projecting terminal portion 25 lies in the path of upward movement of the lug in a locking relation therewith. This housing is closed by the plate 31.

As a means for reciprocating the rod 24, I provide the housing with the electro-ma-gnets 26, 27, together with an armature or lever 28, disposed intermediately of the cores and having its lower end pivoted at 28 in the casing and its upper end 36 loosely engaging n a recess 29 formedin a nut 30,

carried by the rod 2%, as more clearly shown in Fig. 4. The electro-magnets are con nected by wires with a battery 32 and a switch 33 (Fig. 1), the latter of which is preferably a. spring switch, and is operable from the neutral position shown to energize the magnet 26 and force the rod 241- to lock the lug 19 to prevent upward movement of the link 15, or to energize the magnet 27 and retract the rod to its inoperative position as shown in Fig. 2, through the resultant actuation of the armature 28 on its pivot. In order to take the thrust of the rod 24 and limit its movement and also that of the armature, I provide the abutments 34:, 34, formed on the inner face of the housing top plate and against which the nut 30 is designed to abut as the rod reciprocates, and with a view to impart a steadying effect on the rod when the switch is at neutral position, a leaf spring 35 is provided,whose free end 35 rests upon the shouldered portion 36 of the armature and in such manner as to permit free movement of the armature from one magnet to the other, as will be readily understood from an inspection of the drawings.

It is intended that the switch 33 be located at a point in the car removed from the closet suitable for actuation and control by the car attendant, and it is immaterial for the purpose of this invention whether a single closet or a series of closets are to be thus controlled. It is believed obvious, however, that the rod may well be operatively related with reference to a bowl operating member other than the link 15 shown, depending of course to some extent upon the character of the operating means employed.

The operation of the device is substantially as follows: With the locking device in normal position, as in Fig. 2, the rod terminal portion 25 is out of the path of movement of the discharging means. As the train approaches a stepping place, the attendant throws the switch 33, energizing the magnet 26 which in attracting the armature imparts movement to the rod 2% whose terminal portion takes up anoperative position with reference to the lug 19, thereby effectually preventing movement of the lever handle l4 and consequently the pan 10 is'held closed against its seat.

In the event of the lever handle being lifted just prior to'the rod advance, so that when. the rod is in operative position the pivoted lug 19 is above it, the subsequent depression of the lever handle will carry the lug past the terminal portion 25, the latter forcing the lug on its pivot to one side a ainst the stop 20, whereupon the lug after passing the rod returns to itsnormal position against the abutment 17 and beneath the terminal portion 25 which locks it; Reverse movement of the switch retracts the rod terminal to inoperative position, permitting the resumption of the. discharging function of the closet, as will be readily understood.

I do not intend to restrict myself to the exact details of construction or to the preoise arrangement of the parts as shown, for it is deemed obvious that variations there from may be made without in any way departing from the spirit and scope of my invention as pointed out in the appended claims.

Having thus described my invention and illustrated its use, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is the following j v 1. The combination with a closet bowl and a pan therefor, of bowl operating meclr anism comprising a lever member movable to actuate said pan, means adapted for holding said mechanism against actuation comprising a lug pivotally carried at its lower portion by said member and a reciprocable locking member constructed and arranged when the movable member is at rest to occupy a position in the path of the upper portion ofthe lug, said lug movable on its pivot downwardly past said locking member during movement of the movable member, means for limiting the pivotal movement of said lug, and manually controlled operating means for said locking member.

2. In combination, a bowl having a discharge outlet, means capable of actuation to open and close said o'fltlet embodying mechanism provided with a movable lock member, and means adapted for holding said outlet closed comprising a locking member movable to a position where it looks with said member and thereby hold said mechanism against actuation, said lock member being yieldable to pass said locking member during movement of said first named means from its open position to its outlet closing position.

3. The combination with a closet bow] having a discharge passage and a discharge retaining pan normally closing said passage, of actuating means for said pan including a member movable to open the pan and a lug pivotally carried by said member, and a locking means for said pan comprising a locking member disposed with reference to said movable member to take up an operative position in the path of lug movement to hold the movable member against actuation and the pan against opening, said pivotal lug permitting movement of the movable member in one direction past the looking member to a position where the lug is locked against movement in an opposing direction.

4. The combination with a closet bowl having an outlet, a pan therein for opening and closing said outlet, and an actuating mechanism movable to impart opening and closing movement to said pan, of a lock element associated with said mechanism and movable therewlth during actuatlon of the same, a locking device adapted to cooperate operative retracted position out of the path of said element and to be advanced to an operative position in the path of said element when the pan is closed, said element capable of passing said member during ac tuation of the pan to its closed position, and electro-magnetic means constructed and arranged for moving said member to both its advanced and retracted positions, said means being manually controlled at a point distant from said pan actuating mechanism, substantially as described.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto signed my name in the presence of the two subscribed witnesses.

JOHN C. DUNER.

lVitnesses:

W. H. FowKns, M. M. Moonn.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents,

Washington, I). C. 

